Electricity Arrears/Bill

ArseandElbow

Right spoken to helpful guy at SWALEC - set up DD for £200 to clear arrears/pay ongoing consumption with effect from 30th September. I'll then be able to revise it and change it down to manageable amount.

He didn't know why I was told I had to make a payment before i could progress file and I can ignore the warrant, but if i had wanted too I could have had it installed at no cost.

so that's my next bill sorted. Thanks for the help/advice on this thread.

caz2003uk

I had a big issue with British Gas, I had asked them to install pre-payment meters years ago, i took a day off work un paid for the guy to come out and refuse to fit as apparently i wouldn't be able to get to it! So...its back to an arrangement that was so high i couldn't pay it!

Any how ... long story short!

Without notice bailiffs break into my flat and install pre-payment meters for both gas and electric at a cost of £360 per meter to me! (and yes they had the warrants)

Being on pre-payment meters is now the best thing ever to me! Whilst Ive been waiting for my DRO to be processed they have reclaimed debt at £3.30 a week on each meter! I would suggest if anyone is considering avoiding the meters that if it is the only way your supply is going to continue then do it before they do it through the courts because then it is free instead of £360 each meter!!!!!

macman

ArseandElbow wrote: »

Right spoken to helpful guy at SWALEC - set up DD for £200 to clear arrears/pay ongoing consumption with effect from 30th September. I'll then be able to revise it and change it down to manageable amount.

He didn't know why I was told I had to make a payment before i could progress file and I can ignore the warrant, but if i had wanted too I could have had it installed at no cost.

so that's my next bill sorted. Thanks for the help/advice on this thread.

So basically you've agree to a payment of £50 more per month than you can actually afford just to get a temporary respite?
As soon as you stop paying the £200 (which means cancelling the DD), they will reapply for the PPM warrant.
And because you will have broken the previous repayment agreement, this time they'll want the debt clearing in full before they'll drop the PPM process..
You don't seem to have any accurate idea of what your ongoing costs are and what your debt is. Until you establish that, you can't hope to solve the problem.

ArseandElbow

my monthly charge is circa £120 per month (everything is electric in the house with exception of front gas fire) I could have set a DD at around £150 but I wanted this arrears cleared quicker. I confirmed on call that once arrears have been cleared I can go back to regular payments as these are a temp increase to clear.

We hit the problem when our income nosed dived around £400 a month, which caused us to shuffle our debts/revise spending, now we're in a better position and will be having a more income as of next month paying out the addiitonal is manageable. Also have a loan completing in 4 months which will give me an extra £100 in pocket each month.

I didn't want any additionals coming out before this increase is applied.

caz2003uk

You should never make an arrangement for more than you can afford! It never works out and only prolongs the inevitable! Trust me - I find out the hard way!!

Ask them if they would accept and income and expenditure form to determine how much you have to available to offer them against your arrears?

ArseandElbow

I agree, you should never agree something you can't afford that's why I offered the additional to £200. this will clear my arrears reasonably quick though I will be looking to make additional payments where possible.

macman

Just bear in mind that based on £120 a month ongoing, even with paying £200 a month it's still going to take you 9-10 months to clear the debt. If you drop that back to £150, it'll take you more than 2 years, as you're only clearing £30pm. And they won't accept 2 years.

ArseandElbow

no I agree, they were more than happy when i upped my offer. I'm planning to hit every debt i have quick as I can over next few months while I'm in a good position. Taken me a few years to arrange everything, this debt was pretty much the last major one we had - if it wasn't for the salary hiccup for past 6 months, wouldn't have been an issue.

ArseandElbow

macman wrote: »

even with paying £200 a month it's still going to take you 9-10 months to clear the debt.QUOTE]

Again plan is to pay additional to speed this up where possible.

ArseandElbow

now sorted just peeved that I was told i had to make a lumpsum payment first, SWALEC said that was not the case at all. Though it did make me force them to go back and revise the estimated bill from £1100 to £760, a lesson learned by me.